Members learn of CDC's work to help the nation's medical personnel diagnose deadly diseases.

(Above) Dr. Frieden, Director of the CDC, discusses global health and the disease prevention and surveillance issues CDC conducts around the world. Included in the discussion were PEPFAR's successes, the role and reach of the World Health Organization, global pandemics and US interests in issues such as global TB control.

CPH Foundation executive director, Karl Moeller, discusses public health research over lunch with congressional leaders, Dr. Frieden, staff to Congressman Kingston and others at the CDC.

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CPHF updates from the summer of 2013 are available on our homepage.

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June 12, 2013: Unsung Heroes Awards Launched!

We are launching our 2013 Unsung Heroes of Public Health awards ceremony for December 4, 2013! Nominations for each of the awards will be open through Friday November 1, 2013 - You may send the forms for the Rock in the Pond/Wavemaker and the Excellence in Media awards to AnnualAwards@CPHFoundation.org.

Nomination forms and more information about the event can be found here.

Summer 2013: Connecting Business to the CDC

In early May, we hosted conference calls linking businesses with the CDC to discuss strengthening corporate partnerships. More calls are planned for mid-May.

We are also in the midst of planning for a webinar with the Director of the CDC's Injury Center. This webinar will be the first in a series intended to connect interested companies with CDC's many centers and disease experts. Send us a note to get on the mailing list for either of these efforts.

May 20, 2013: Prenatal Nutrition Hill Briefing

Videos will be available soon from the May 20th briefing, sponsored by the Congressional Study Group on Public Health. Congressman McGovern, Congressman Cassidy, and Congresswoman Roybal-Allard hosted this panel discussion.

After Congressman James McGovern (D-MA) welcomed the guests spoke of the importance prenatal nutrition, Dr. Daniel Raiten (NIH) and Dr. Coleen Boyle (CDC) spoke about their agencies' research topics, including the effects of medications on folic acid absorption and the repercussions of maternal pre-gestational obesity on childhood obesity. Ms. Martelle Esposito provided perspective on how the USDA's WIC program addresses these issues using education, food packages, and professional referrals.

Today the CDC released the agency's Operating Plan for 2013. We have only seen this much red at National's Stadium (or maybe at at Washington Capitols Game). Ouch!

April 18, 2013: CDC Director on Capitol Hill

We were pleased to help our friends at the Congressional Study Group on Public Health host Dr. Tom Frieden, CDC Director, at a briefing on Capitol Hill. Thanks to all the congressional staff who took time to attend.

April 4, 2013: Leaders Write to Congress

Earlier today, The CPH Foundation sent members of the House of Representatives and the Senate a letter signed by more than two dozen senior corporate and government leaders. In the letter, signatories call on Congress to support funding for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The letter notes the role preventable conditions play in the rising cost of health care; discusses past cuts to the agency; encourages Congress not to further degrade the CDC; and details pending debates where CDC’s funding level might be adjusted.

The letter is arriving on the Hill just before the release of President Obama’s fiscal year 2014 budget request to Congress, and just as the House and Senate move their own budget measures into the annual appropriations process.

Signatories include several C-level leaders from Fortune 500 companies and other corporate leaders, a former Republican Governor, a bipartisan group of former members of Congress, former surgeons general and a number of past CDC directors – among others. View the letter here. A similar copy was sent to members in the House.

The CPH Foundation hosted its Third Annual Unsung Heroes of Public Health awards event on Tuesday, December 4, 2012. The awards honored individuals who have worked tirelessly and produced meaningful public health results in disease control and prevention. Our award winners - Anna Gorman of the Los Angeles Times and Matt McDaniel of the Shelby County Health Department - had the opportunity to tour Capitol Hill and meet with over half a dozen members of Senate and House of Representatives, including two senators from the state of Tennessee. Afterwards, the awardees were honored at a reception on Capitol Hill in the Rayburn House Office Building.

In a 'first' for our annual event, three members of Congress served as our Honorary Co-Chairs this year. We are grateful to Congressman and Dr. Phil Roe (R-TN), Congresswoman Lucille Roybal-Allard (D-CA) and Representative James P. McGovern (D-MA) for helping us highlight the valuable contributions of our nation's prevention and disease control experts.

We are especially thankful to have the Kaiser Permanente Program Offices Fund for Community Benefit at the East Bay Community Foundation and GlaxoSmithKline's support of our 2012 Unsung Heroes of Public Health awards.

Our November tour of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for senior business leaders was a great success. We hosted 28 prominent business executives on a full tour of the CDC, which included panel discussions regarding the ways in which CDC's work impacts the business community and employee health, a tour of CDC's smoking cessation program lab, an overview of CDC's diabetes prevention program, and more.

The evening prior to the Tour, participants had the opportunity to network and dine with each other as well as over 20 senior CDC staff including. Dr. Tom Frieden, CDC Director, even joined the conversation via phone from abroad!

The CPH Foundation would like to thank all tour participants, the hard-working CDC staff, and the United Health Foundation for making this event possible. A special thanks to Dr. Reed Tuckson of UHF for attending the event and contributing to the meaningful conversations that took place on the tour.

CDC Tour participants visit the Emergency Operation Center

Business Leaders speak with high level CDC staff in various meetings

Dr. Jim Pirkle tells the participants about the Tobacco and Environmental Health labs

After a brief welcome from Congressman Bill Cassidy (R-LA), Dr. Tom Frieden of the CDC, Dr. Edward Sondik of the CDC's National Center for Health Statistics, and Dr. Matt Longjohn of YMCA of the USA briefed over 60 attendees on National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) data and how it can be used for policymaking.

The majority of attendees were House and Senate staff. Along with Congressman Cassidy, The Foundation is also grateful to Senator Tom Harkin, Congresswoman Lucille Roybal-Allard, and Congressman James McGovern for co-sponsoring the event.

NHANES measures the health of our nation by collecting baseline statistics for blood pressure, infant height and weight, and the population's nutrition status. For more information, see the Dear Colleague that went out to the Hill. See below for pictures from the event.

The business leaders tour is coming together and is set for November 19-20, 2012. The invitation sent to business leaders can be found here. RSVPs have been rolling in and The CPH Foundation is pleased with the enthusiastic response to date. A draft agenda for the event can be found here.

July 18, 2012

A key House committee passed a proposed spending plan for the CDC (and several other agencies and programs) today. If enacted into law, the House bill would mean major cuts to the agency.

The chart above (which links to a 2 page copy with data) shows the fiscal year 2013 House, White House and Senate funding proposals in a comparative format. As you may know, no proposal is expected to pass the current and bitterly divided Congress prior to the election. Once November passes, a lame duck Congress will come back to town and wrap up a final compromise. If they can't sequestration will take hold and cut the agency by about 500 million. In other words, a final funding level for the CDC is anyone's guess.

Read about our pending business leaders tour, our 2012 Unsung Heroes event, our meeting with AdvaMedDx and more in our June newsletter.

March 23, 2012

Our friends at Research!America published a guest blog on our site focusing on World TB Day and discussing the value of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Read it here.

March 15, 2012

The CPH Foundation's Board and more than a dozen of our partner organizations gathered at APHA's offices to discuss the organization's plans for 2012 and beyond. A slide deck is available by request. The meeting was tremendously helpful, and partner feedback will help guide our work moving forward.

On February 28 - after a week of interviewing The CPH Foundation's ED, Nature Magazine publishes The CPH Foundation's budget analysis chart for the Obama Administration's cuts to the CDC. You can view the entire article here.